Doll and doll clothing ensemble

ABSTRACT

A doll having a three-dimensional head and a two-dimensional body, said doll being in combination with a cloth-vinyl laminated article of doll clothing physically bondable to the doll body.

United States Patent [1 1 Hughes, Jr.

[ Aug. 21, 1973 4] DOLL AND DOLL CLOTHING ENSEMBLE [76] Inventor: Alexander W. Hughes, Jr., 19

Wardell Cir., Oceanport, NJ. 07757 22 Filed: Mar. 22, 1972 211 Appl. No.: 236,941

[52] US. Cl. 46/157, 46/D1G. 1 [51] Int. Cl A63h 9/00 [58] Field of Search 46/157, 156

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,331,776 10/1943 l-leggedal 46/157 2,093,207 9/1937 Munson 46/157 Primary Examiner-F; Barry Shay Assistant Examiner-J. Q. Lever A ttornqy- Myron Cohen, Maurice B. Stiefel et al.

[ 5 7] ABSTRACT A doll having a three-dimensional head and a twodimensional body, said (1011 being in combination with a cloth-vinyl laminated article of doll clothing physically bendable to the doll body.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENIEBAuc2'I I975 FIG. 5.

FIG. 4.

FIG. 2.

DOLL AND DOLL CLOTHING ENSEMBLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to dolls and doll clothing ensembles. 3

2. Prior Art There are many ensembles comprising dolls and clothing therefor. For example, in U.S. Pat. No.

2,331,776, there is disclosed a flat, two-dimensional doll having formed thereon, at predetermined locations, layers which have an exposed surface that will act with a similar exposed surface on an-article of doll clothing to adhere them to one another so that a child can dress the doll.

In this ensemble, the layers having exposed surfaces which adhere to one another are made of oil cloth.

In U.S. Pat. No. 2,093,207, there are disclosed dolls and articles of doll clothing consisting of a laminated fabric including an outer printed and/or colored piece of hard-surfaced cloth such as linen and an inner piece of wool-like material.

In this ensemble, the doll has a fuzzy surface formed of a sheet of suede or flocked paper, or ithas a surface coated with a rubber-like composition such as latex. The wool-like material on the doll clothing adheres to the fuzzy (or latex coated) surface of the doll.

In U.S. Pat. No. 2,635,386, a flat doll body having a spherical head is disclosed. The spherical head is an inflatable balloon having facial features imprinted thereon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a doll and clothing ensemble. The doll includes a three-dimensional head on a flat, two-dimensional body. The body of the doll is formed of cardboard and has a surface coated with a plastic material such as polyvinyl chloride (hereinafter PVC) or polyvinylacetate (hereinafter PVA), Preferably PVC. Alternatively,' the doll body may be formed of a hard plastic such as polystyrene having imprinted thereon a picture of a doll's body. In such embodiment, the plastic coating material, preferably PVC, is coated on the polystyrene body. The plastic coating material has the property of physically adhering or bonding to a tacky vinyl, or other soft plastic surface when pressed into contact therewith. PVC is preferred as the plastic coating material because PVA does not bond to the tacky vinyl with as great a degree of adhesion as does PVC.

In a further embodiment, the doll body is jointed at the waist in order that the doll can be posed in different positions.

The doll clothing, on the other hand, is a laminate of a size and shape which corresponds to the portion of the doll body to be covered therewith. The laminate comprises a cloth element laminated to a sheet of tacky vinyl, preferably gauge, opaque white vinyl, although other thicknesses and any other color, or clear vinyl may be used. In place of the tacky vinyl, another soft plastic material may be used.

The so-called tacky vinyl is of the type which contains a substantial amount of a plasticizer to make the vinyl soft. The tacky vinyl is readily available fromcommercial sources. A suitable example is Krene, which is a product of Union Carbide Corporation.

The'three-dimensional head can be made from any suitable material such as plastic or rubber. To attach the head to the-doll body, the neck portion of the body is inserted into a slot provided in the bottom of the head and the two are glued or cemented together.

Alternatively, the head can be joined to the body by a ball and socket arrangement wherein a ball is formed in the neck region of the bodyand the bottom of the head is provided with a socket for receiving the ball, the head thereby being capable of articulation. The use of a ball and socket arrangement is particularly well suited to the embodiment wherein the doll body is formed of a hard plastic since it is a simple matter to form a unitary hard plastic body terminating in a ball at the neck thereof.

In addition, when a jointed body is used together with a ball and socket arrangement for attaching the head to the body, the posture of the doll can be changed at the waist as well as at the neck, thereby enabling a wide variety of different poses.

In making the laminate comprising the doll clothing, a problem arises in bonding the cloth element to the tacky vinyl. The two layers cannot be merely glued to one another using water based glues or solvent based glues because water based glues will not adhere to vinyl and solvent based glues attack the vinyl, causing it to harden and curl. According to the present invention, the problem has been solved by using a pressure sensitive adhesive. The adhesive is coated onto a silicon paper and cured by heating, for example, as by passing it through a heating oven. Then, the adhesive coated paper is adhered to the tacky vinyl by pressing the two together. Thereafter, the silicon paper is removed, leaving the pressure sensitive adhesive on the vinyl. Then, the cloth element is adhered to the vinyl by contacting it with the exposed pressure sensitive adhesive coated surface thereof.

To dress the doll, a child has only to gently press the article of clothing to the doll body with the vinyl sheet of the clothing in contact with the plastic material coating the doll body, thereby bonding the clothing to the doll body. To undress the doll, the child has only to lift the clothing from the body, since the bond between the two is not very strong, although it is strong enough so that-when the dressed doll is held in an upright position, the clothing will not fall off of the doll.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of the doll;

FIG. 2 is a section on the line ll of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the doll skirt; I FIG. 4 is a section on the line 11-11 of FIG. 3; and FIG. 5 is aplan view of a doll blouse.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The lower portion of body is provided with a base portion 12 having a slot 13. A support member 13 is inserted in slot 13 at right angles to the base portion 12 to stand the doll in an upright position. The body 10 is preferably composed of a cardboard or like material 16 as shown in FIG. 2. The cardboard material has a coating 17 of a plastic material such as PVC. If the plastic material is transparent, it may be desirable to imprint on the cardboard material substantially correct anatomical features, or suitable representations of undergarments 14 and 15.

In FIG. 3 there is shown, in plan, a laminated skirt 18 which is composed, as seen in FIG. 4, of a vinyl sheet 19 to which fabric 21 is laminated by a pressure sensitive adhesive 20. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a blouse 22 to be worn by the doll, together with the skirt 18. In cross section, blouse 22 is the same as skirt 18. Alternatively, the doll may be dressed in a one-piece dress (not shown) made in the same manner as the skirt and blouse described above.

To dress the doll, a child selects a suitable outfit and simply places the garment or garments on the appropriate portion of the doll body with the vinyl sheet 19 in contact with plastic coating 17 and presses the two together. The amount of pressure needed to bond the two is very slight, and merely pressing the two together between thumb and index finger is sufficient. To undress the doll, the child has merely to lift the clothing at any edge thereof and pull it away from the body.

Variations can, of course, be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent and hereby claim is:

l. A doll and doll clothing ensemble comprising a doll including a three-dimensional head and a flat body, said body being coated with a plastic material which is physically removably bondable to a tacky vinyl surface when pressed into contact therewith, and at least one article of doll clothing comprising a laminate including an outermost cloth layer representative of said article of clothing, an innermost tacky vinyl layer removably bondable to said plastic material coated body and a pressure sensitive adhesive layer intermediate said cloth layer and said tacky vinyl layer, said cloth layer being adhered to said tacky vinyl layer by said intermediate adhesive layer.

2. An ensemble according to claim 1, wherein the plastic coating material is polyvinyl chloride.

3. An ensemble in accordance with claim 1 wherein said laminate is a clothing laminate produced by coating said adhesive onto a silicon paper, curing said adhesive by heating, pressing said cured adhesive coated paper to said tacky vinyl layer to adhere said paper to said tacky vinyl layer, removing said silicon paper from said vinyl layer so as to leave said pressure sensitive adhesive layer exposed on and coated to said vinyl layer, and adhering said cloth layer to said vinyl layer by contacting said cloth layer with said exposed adhesive layer. 

1. A doll and doll clothing ensemble comprising a doll including a three-dimensional head and a flat body, said body being coated with a plastic material which is physically removably bondable to a tacky vinyl surface when pressed into contact therewith, and at least one article of doll clothing comprising a laminate including an outermost cloth layer representative of said article of clothing, an innermost tacky vinyl layer removably bondable to said plastic material coated body and a pressure sensitive adhesive layer intermediate said cloth layer and said tacky vinyl layer, said cloth layer being adhered to said tacky vinyl layer by said intermediate adhesive layer.
 2. An ensemble according to claim 1, wherein the plastic coating material is polyvinyl chloride.
 3. An ensemble in accordance with claim 1 wherein said laminate is a clothing laminate produced by coating said adhesive onto a silicon paper, curing said adhesive by heating, pressing said cured adhesive coated paper to said tacky vinyl layer to adhere said paper to said tacky vinyl layer, removing said silicon paper from said vinyl layer so as to leave said pressure sensitive adhesive layer exposed on and coated to said vinyl layer, and adhering said cloth layer to said vinyl layer by contacting said cloth layer with said exposed adhesive layer. 